


Picking Wishes

by orangina, PixiMe



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Baby!Hömmels, Kid Fic, M/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-16 08:42:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7260547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangina/pseuds/orangina, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixiMe/pseuds/PixiMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mats and Benni meet when they are flower boys together at a wedding. They end up deciding that <i>they</i> want to get married, as well - and to no one else but each other.</p><p>Or: <i>"His hand found its way into the pocket of his suit where he gripped the napkin rings he stole earlier. If he did this, then he wanted to do it right. And all babies knew that one couldn't propose without a ring."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Benni's Wish

**Author's Note:**

> Hömmels kiddie fic! It's all very fluffy and I do hope you enjoy it because I definitely had way too much fun writing it. Shout out to PixiMe for coming up with the original premise and then being the best co-author ever when I begged for us to write it together :)
> 
> Note: Mats is older than Benni in this fic (he isn't in real life).

                                                                      

Benni looked down at the ground, shuffling his little feet back and forth. He had a basket slung over his arm which he was swinging about quite nervously.

When his mom had asked if he wanted to be the “flower boy” at his aunt’s wedding and throw petals along the aisle during the ceremony, he’d agreed. But only because his mom had told him that there would be another little flower boy there with him so he wouldn’t have to be all by himself.

His name was Mats, and if Benni were honest with himself, he thought that Mats was rather annoying and bossy. But he was glad to have Mats by his side. Every time his tummy started squeezing with nerves and his eyes got a little watery, he would remember that he had Mats with him and feel a bit better.

“My mama told me this morning that I looked so handsome. Did your mama tell you that you looked handsome too?” Mats was whispering in Benni’s ear as they waited for their cue to begin walking and throwing petals.

Benni shrugged. He was dressed up in a suit which was slightly too big for him, meaning he’d tripped himself several times already, and he’d spilled juice by accident in the car. But he’d also taken a bath this morning and brushed his teeth extra good because he knew how important his job was today.

“Well, I think you look handsome,” Mats whispered.

“Thank you,” Benni whispered.

Then the music started playing, and Benni froze. His eyes flew open like saucers.

Everything around him seemed so big and important, and everyone was looking at them.

“Come on! We have to go! What are you doing?” Mats cried, tugging on Benni’s wrist.

“I can’t!” Benni squeaked.

“You _have_ to! Come on!”

The next thing Benni knew, Mats was dragging him along the aisle by the hand, scattering flower petals everywhere and everyone was clapping and smiling. And Benni realized that he was having fun.

He reached into his own basket, grabbed a handful of petals with his tiny hand, and threw them all over the place. Some of them landed on his and Mats’ faces. He laughed. They smelled faintly sweet and sugary.

Before he knew it, there was no more aisle left for them to walk down and his basket was empty. Mats let go of his hand and Benni wiped his sweaty palm off onto his pants. He looked at Mats, who was grinning enormously and had little pale pink flowers petals in his hair. One of them fell out onto his shoulder. Benni felt so exhilarated that he wanted to reach over and brush the petal off.

He wasn’t fast enough, though, because soon enough they were being told what a good job they had done and escorted back into the audience.

\---

Benni was greeted by his mama's warm smile and a “well done, son!” from his father. He paid them no attention though, cause he was searching for Mats. Looking around the church wondering where Mats’ family might sit, he didn't even notice that the ceremony had already started. Only when he heard the loud and clear “I do!” from his aunt he turned back to the front.

Benni really didn't care about the whole ceremony. Like most five year olds would, he was already looking forward to the end of it and he couldn't wait to play with Mats. While being bossy and annoying Mats was also really cool and almost two years older than Benni. The more he thought about him the clearer it was that he would like him.

When the ceremony was over Mats made his way over to Benni right away. He somehow found the smaller boy very endearing and wanted to get to know him better. In spite of the age difference of almost two years he felt like he and Benni would become good friends.

When Benni saw Mats coming his way he felt really good and relieved. Sometime during the ceremony he started to worry that Mats might not want to play with him, that he might think that he's too young and not cool enough.

He's smiling at Mats when his mom calls him.

“Benni dear, come on, we have to leave the church now.”

“But mama, Mats…”

“You can meet up with Mats later, dear, but aunt Annie will throw her bouquet in front of the church soon.”, Benni's mom says, while slowly pushing her son outside.

Hearing about the bouquet, Benni quickly forgot about Mats.

“She will throw her bouquet? Why? Does she not want to keep it? But it was so pretty!”

“Haha, no, it's not that dear. It's a tradition, that after the wedding the bride throws her bouquet into the crowd of all unmarried girls and the one who catches it is said to be the next to marry.”

“Why only girls? That's unfair mama, I want to catch the bouquet too!”

“I'm sure that if you ask Annie nicely you can stand in the crowd too sweetie.”

And that's what he did. Standing in the crowd he already knew that he would most likely have no chance at all to catch the bouquet. But Benni was not one to lose hope quickly and his heart was set on holding that beautiful arrangement of red and white roses in his arms. So one can imagine how shattered he was when the bouquet flew right into the hands of a woman that was at least thirty years older and about twice as tall as Benni himself.

When Mats saw this scene happen, his heart broke in two. Seeing the tears glistening in Benni's eyes and hopelessness wash over his face made Mats want to cry with him. And that's when Mats decided that this was gonna be the last time ever he would let anyone hurt _his_ Benni and that he would make Benni a flower bouquet of his own.

Benni was full-on sobbing now and his mom just couldn't calm him down. Pretty much everyone in the room was glaring at the woman with the bouquet, that has more than once been asked to “just please give the boy the stupid bouquet, so he stops crying!”.

But no. This women was keen on keeping her newly won treasure. And secretly everyone knew why it was so important to her. With her age and looks she was not so likely to find anyone to marry her, so now after catching the bouquet she was expecting to be the next to marry. Which even Benni knew is just a silly token, that no one really believes in.

Mats wasn't there anymore when that occurred. He was in the park next to the church where the huge tents for the party were built up. _If Benni wants flowers so much, I'm just gonna get him some_ , he thought to himself.

There weren't many flowers growing on the meadow, but Mats made the best out of them. He sat on his knees and carefully collected some daisies, white pansies, buttercups and one especially beautiful dandelion, for Benni to make a wish. All of the flowers he picked fit well together colour wise and he knew some things about arranging flowers from his uncle who was a florist. So the small - okay it was actually really tiny because of the very short stems of the flowers - bouquet turned out to look quite pretty and Mats was sure that Benni would like it.

Meanwhile Benni had calmed down a little but every now and then there still was a single tear rolling down his cheeks. It was nothing in comparison to the heavy crying that occurred before though and all of the wedding guests were glad for that.

His aunt had promised him that the next time she was gifted with flowers, she would throw them for just Benni to catch and that he could then keep them. This made Benni feel slightly better but of course he was still mourning the beautiful bouquet, that was now in the hands of the ugly bitch.

But then he saw Mats, with his hands behind his back and a warm smile on his face, walking towards him.

“Hi Benni.”

“H..hi Mats.” Benni said, still with a lump in his throat, not noticing the blush on the other’s face.

“I have something for you. I saw what happened, so I picked you flowers and a wish and if you want to you can wish that the old lady will give you the bouquet. But remember you have to blow it all at once, otherwise the wish won´t come true.”

And with that Mats gave Benni the dandelion, who with a huge smile on his face took it and blew on it with all his might right away. And all of the seeds flew... right into Mats’ face. He couldn´t even blink because there were dandelion seeds sticking in between his lashes.

“Achooo!” One of them had landed right in Mats nose and tickled him.

“Oh my god, I´m so sorry Mats. Please don´t hate me now! I didn´t even think…”, Benni said wishing he´d been more careful.

Mats slowly opened his mouth, carefully blowing out some air, so he wouldn´t breathe the seeds in and then brushing all of them from his face, so he could open his eyes and look at Benni.

“It´s okay Benni. Don´t worry. Whatever you wished for will definitely become true now.” Mats said giggling.

And that Benni surely hoped. He didn´t wish that the women would give him the bouquet as Mats recommended, but he wished for a long lasting friendship with Mats.

“Oh, I totally forgot. Here are your flowers by the way. The bouquet might not be as beautiful as the big one, but it belongs to you and only you.”

Benni did not care that this bouquet was not even a quarter of the size of the one he earlier tried to catch, to him it was 100% perfect.

When Mats saw Benni with the tiny bouquet fitted perfectly into his tiny hands, a huge smile that overpowered the sun itself grew on his face, and he felt his heart swell. He knew no such feeling as love yet, but he knew that he would never ever want to be without Benni again.

When he felt the small arms circling his tummy, his heart started to beat faster immediately and his cheeks grew very hot.

Benni wanted to never ever let go of Mats again. The bigger boy was his new found hero. His mom always told Benni that it was okay for him to love whomever he wanted, because love was love. So he decided there and then that from now on he would love Mats.

Benni's mom was watching the whole scene with a smile on her face. Mrs. Höwedes was a very open and kindhearted woman. She had always been very keen on making sure that the small boy knew that he would be accepted by his family no matter what.

Very early already, she suspected that her son might be gay.

At the age of three Benni started to play with dolls, one year later his love for Disney princesses inflamed and now at the age of five, flowers were the best thing in the world. Of course she knew, that this could just be a phase and didn´t necessarily have to mean that he liked boys, but if so, she wanted to be prepared.

Seeing Benni now, with his arms thrown around Mats, she felt affirmed in her assumption and it wasn´t a problem for her at all. In fact, it made her very happy. Mats would be a very good friend for her son (and maybe even more when they´re older), she was sure of that.

Mats was the son of the groom’s sister, a very nice lady that Mrs. Höwedes got on with well, but nothing more. For the sake of her son though, she decided to try and build a friendship with her.

For now, though, it was time to put Benni down for a nap. Mrs. Höwedes hated to have to tear Benni away from his new friend, but it had already been a long day for him. When he was tired, he tended to be cranky and have meltdowns that could only be mitigated by tucking him into bed. It was lucky that the little Mats had been around this time to cheer him up. Still, Benni was starting to rub his eyes with his miniature fists and yawn quite frequently.

While everyone else was preparing for the dinner reception out on the lawn, Mrs. Höwedes sent Mr. Höwedes to go take Benni back inside the church.

The father explained to Mats that Benni was still a baby and needed his naptime.

“Aww.” Benni slumped his shoulders over in disappointment.

“It's okay, we can play later,” Mats promised.

That made Benni smile a tiny bit. He tucked the gift from Mats carefully into his pocket, then let his father pick him up. It wasn't long before his tear stained face was nestled into his father’s chest and he was snoring.

Once Benni was gone, Mats trotted off across the lawn to the tents to busy himself until his friend was back. The food wasn’t ready yet, so he was forced to sit at a table with his parents while they talked with other adults. It was boring. Mats kicked his legs back and forth beneath the table, squirmed around in his chair, and peeked over his shoulder to check if there was a small blond boy emerging from the church.

It wasn't until delicious smells started wafting through the air and the appetizers started coming out that Mats became distracted.

Yet all the while, he had an idea brewing at the back of his mind.


	2. The Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone pops the question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your kudos and nice feedback on the last chapter. It really means a lot to us <3
> 
> We added in a cover at the beginning which Hannah made, and it's quite cute if I may say so myself so please check it out if you haven't already seen it!
> 
> I hope you like this chapter, but the next one is my personal favorite..hehe. Enjoy :)

Just 15 minutes shy of the hour, Mr. Höwedes put back the book he’d been reading and gently woke Benni. Normally Benni’s naps were longer, but he couldn’t afford to miss much more of his sister in law’s wedding. Besides, the little boy was getting older and soon would have to learn to make it through the whole day without a nap.

“Are we gonna go back to the wedding now, papa?” Benni said in a sleepy voice.

“Yes,” Mr. Höwedes answered, helping his son to sit on his lap and giving him a cold cup of water to help him wake up. “You ready?”

Benni clutched the cup in both of his hands and sipped, peering up at his dad with big eyes. When he was finished drinking, he nodded. “Ready, papa.”

Mr. Höwedes took Benni’s hand and led him back outside the church and towards the tents. It was still quite early in the evening, but the clouds shielded the sun from the earth so all the golden lanterns glowing inside the white tents looked rather beautiful.

“Papa?” Benni piped up after thinking hard for a few minutes.

“Hm?”

“If I eat a seed, will a tree grow in my belly?”

“No. Trees need to to have sunlight so they can grow big and tall. It’s too dark inside your belly.”

“Oh, okay,” Benni said, sounding quite relieved. He scrunched up his face, thinking very hard once more. “Papa?”

“Yes?”

“What happens when you get married to someone?”

“It means that you’ll love and care about each other forever.”

“I thought that it meant that you were allowed to yell at each other about who washes the dishes,” Benni replied, puzzled.

Mr. Höwedes laughed. “What on earth makes you say that?”

“Because before you get married gotta pretend that you’ll listen to everything they say and tell them that they are beautiful, even if they look like a lizard. Otherwise they won’t wanna marry you,” Benni explained.

Mr. Höwedes laughed some more. Kids could sure think up the darndest things.

\---

After the dinner and after the cake was served (and after Mrs. Höwedes had to explain to her son that _we don’t use the nice tablecloth as a napkin, Benni sweetheart_ ) came the dancing.

The bride and the groom had the first dance, and then everyone else slowly made their way to the dance floor. Couples danced in each other’s arms, and Benni weaved in and out of everyone’s legs trying to find Mats so that _they_ could dance together too.

He couldn’t stop thinking about marriage. His father had said that it means you’ll love and care about each other forever, but Benni was still convinced that it simply meant you stopped telling white lies to one another. He decided right there and then that he was going to get married as soon as possible; if he was going to be in love with someone, he wanted it to be honest and truthful right from the start.

He quickly ran through everyone in his head that he loved. His teacher at primary school. The guy who scooped his ice cream at the ice cream parlor. The librarian who helped him pick out all his favorite books. The neighborhood cat who always played football in the garden with him when no one else wanted to. The babysitter who let him watch movies his parents always said no to (and who also got fired because every single time that happened, Benni insisted on sleeping in bed with his parents for the next three nights because he was too scared to sleep by himself).

But even though Benni loved all those people, he couldn’t picture himself getting married to any of them. If he married his teacher, after all, he might have to do extra penmanship exercises at home!

The answer was quite simple. The only person he wanted to marry was Mats. And he wanted to do it tonight.

Where _was_ Mats, though?

\---

Everything was ready. Mats had worked hard for the past 10 minutes, and he was bursting with excitement. He knew exactly what to do because he’d seen it in a few cartoons. And he couldn’t wait any longer to do it.

It was easy to spot Benni on the dance floor from Mats’ vantage point, as he only came up to around everyone else’s waist. The blondie was bouncing up and down on his short legs, throwing his arms around to the music. A few of the adults became annoyed that there was a kid running around and bumping into everyone, but most of them thought he was adorable and would chuckle and point out the flower boy to their partners.

Mats ran over. “Benni!” he called brightly.

“Mats! You wanna dance with me?” Benni exclaimed.

“Yes!”

And so they danced. They held each other’s sticky hands and spun around in circles until one of them became too dizzy and fell down in a fit of giggles. They tangoed wildly about the place. At one point, Mats tried to pick Benni up, which only resulted in them _both_ crashing to the floor.

“Oops! Sorry!”

“It’s okay!” Benni panted from underneath the bigger boy. He scrambled back up to his feet despite being exhausted because he was having too much fun. But Mats stayed down on his knees.

Mats’ cheeks were flushed brightly from both jumping around and now from the thought of what he was about to do. He looked up at his doe-eyed friend.

His hand found it's way into the pocket of his suit where he gripped the napkin rings he stole earlier. If he did this, then he wanted to do it right. And all babies knew that one couldn't propose without a ring.

“Benni. I know we’ve only met today. But I still know already, that you're the one I want to play with for the rest of my life. You make me laugh and I like to make you laugh too.”

Benni was feeling all giddy inside when he heard Mats say that. 

Yes! Of course he wanted to play with Mats for the rest of his life too. But why was Mats saying all of this still sitting on his knees? Why didn´t he get up?

This was confusing Benni a lot and he didn´t like looking down on Mats, so to him, the only reasonable thing to do, was to kneel down as well.

“Ehhh, Benni…. What´re you doing?”

“I thought that if you don´t want to stand anymore I´ll just sit down with you. Why? Didn´t you want me to? I can get up again….”

That answer made Mats laugh.

“No, it´s okay. I only want to ask you something.”

Benni slumped down in a more comfortable position and smiled at Mats while waiting for the question to come.

“Benni Höwedes, I realised today, that you're the bestest and cutest friend anyone could wish for and I love you. I don't want to spend my life without you anymore so I decided to ask you now….” He paused because he saw the men on tv do that.

“.....do you want to marry me?”

“Yes! Yes of course I want to!” Benni squealed. 

He was very excited that Mats had asked him this, he wouldn't have to ask the other boy then.

Mats then noticed, that he had totally forgotten the rings. They were still clutched in his hand, deep in his pocket.

 _Better late than never never,_ he thought to himself.

Mats pulled the rings out and showed them to Benni. 

“That's so that everyone can see that you belong to me now, that we belong together.” Mats said.

And he had to admit, he was quite proud that Benni had said yes.

Benni took one and let it fall down his tiny ring finger. The ring of course was way to big, but Benni did not care at all about that. To him it was perfect.

“Oooh. That's so cool! We look like we're married now.” Benni said excited.

“Yes, but we're not already. When we'll marry, I'll have a nicer ring for you. One that's not to big. But for now I had to improvise.”

“That's okay. I love it anyways. And I'll just keep my hand in a fist, then it won't fall off.”

And then Benni pecked Mats on the lips. 

He had heard that people, who love each other kiss and it made sense to him, he kissed his mama too. 

Kissing Mats, he decided, he liked even more than kissing his mama and just to be sure, he tried it one more time. 

Yes. Definitely. Did that mean then, that he loved Mats even more than his Mama?

Mats in the meantime turned pink. For him kissing was less normal than for Benni. He was older and when you get older as everyone knows kissing your parents or rather getting kissed by them gets more and more embarrassing.

But it was different with Benni. Benni's kisses, Mats had liked very much. So he returned the favour and pecked Benni on the lips.

Benni, in turn, squealed with delight. “You kissed me!”

“Yes I did,” Mats said proudly, “and I’m gonna kiss you again!”

He leaned forward to do just that, but Benni dodged him and covered his mouth with his hand so Mats couldn’t get him. Judging by how hard the blondie was giggling, you’d’ve thought that Mats trying to kiss him and missing was the most hilarious thing ever.

“Heehee,” said Benni.

“Hey,” Mats said with a frown as he crossed his arms. “Watch out, I’m gonna get you!”

With his hands still curled over his mouth, Benni zoomed off, causing Mats to follow, and it wasn’t too long before they’d started a game of tag all over the lawn, ducking underneath tables and circling around trees and rose bushes. The only difference between their game and a normal game of tag was that the chaser not only had to tag their target, but he had to kiss him too.

But being smaller, Benni was at a disadvantage. Mats always caught up to him very quickly, and then when it was his turn to chase, he had trouble keeping up with the other boy. Little Benni became frustrated with the game very quickly, but he kept playing because he didn’t want Mats to think he was a wimp. He wasn’t having fun anymore, though, and Mats didn’t seem to realize this.

And then, Benni tripped and fell, bumping his head on the edge of one of the tables.

He brought both of his hands up to touch where it hurt, and then slowly started to cry.

“Owwwww,” he howled.

The next thing he knew he was surrounded by adults, none of them quite sure was to do with the wailing, hiccuping boy. Outside the ring stood an exasperated Mats. It could be hard sometimes to have a friend who was so much younger than you; Benni had already cried once today and here he was crying all over again.

And that’s why Mats had to stand up for him because he was older and bigger and it was his job to show him right from wrong. He tried to push his way past the adults to get to his future husband. But Benni’s aunt Annie got there faster and scooped her nephew up, letting him cry into her beautiful white dress.

“Where does it hurt, baby?”

“Here,” Benni sniffled, looking up at his auntie in earnest as if she should know exactly where he was talking about. “Can you kiss it better?”

Annie kissed her nephew’s forehead. “There. All better.”

Benni smiled adoringly at her before she put him back down. By this time, Benni’s mom had arrived and decided that it was probably best if they called it a night.

That’s when Mats crumpled. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Benni. They hadn’t even gotten married yet! He hung his head, trying to blink away the tears in his own eyes but they fell anyway. And unlike with Benni, no one came running over to him because he was a _big boy_ and big boys were supposed to be tough. All the adults were too busy cooing over Benni to notice that Mats was sad, too. It was so unfair.

But Benni noticed. His mother was holding a tissue to his face and was trying to clean up his nose since it was so runny from the crying. But it was hard when he kept squirming around.

“Blow,” Benni’s mama ordered, becoming impatient. But Benni refused to blow his nose and instead wiggled away over to Mats.

“Benedikt Höwedes, come back here right now!” Mrs. Höwedes said. She knew how much people without kids hated it when kids wiped their dirty faces on everything.

Still, Benni didn’t listen. “Mats?”

Mats just sighed a tiny little sigh, so Benni hugged him tightly. “Don’t be sad,” Benni tried again.

“But… but when are we gonna get married?!”

“Tomorrow when we wake up in the morning?”

“But Benni, we’re not gonna see each other tomorrow in the morning! We live in different houses,” Mats pointed out.

“Oh. Well, maybe my mama can set up a playdate with your mama? We’re in a hotel right now but I think you can still come to my hotel and we can get married.”

“Well, okay I guess,” Mats said. He was still doubtful, but Benni’s optimism was hard to ignore, so he caved and hugged his little friend back.

“Oh, and guess what!” Benni had a megawatt grin on his face.

“You found a hidden treasure?” Mats guessed. It had always been his dream to dig up treasure, but despite all the holes he’d spent hours digging up in his backyard, no luck so far.

“No, but you were close. My mama said that we can borrow her makeup for when we get married!”

Mats gasped, bringing his hands to his cheeks. Mats’ mom never let him play with her makeup, so this was even better news than finding a treasure chest. “Really?!”

“Yes, really!” Benni looked pleased with himself for having been able to cheer his friend up.

“This is gonna be the _best_ wedding ever!”


	3. The Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Benni and Mats have their special day :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for leaving kudos and comments, it makes us so happy!
> 
> This chapter (sadly) is the last actual chapter, but there will be an epilogue.  
> So I guess everyone can guess what Benni and Mats will do in this one :D  
> Also this is the longest chapter of all and not only Gina's favourite one, but also mine :) 
> 
>  
> 
> So I hope you will all enjoy it and have lots of fun reading it :) <3

The next day Mats mother was taking her son to the hotel the Höwedes family was staying in.

She had talked to little Benni's mother a lot yesterday and very much liked the woman. They both thought that the idea the two boys had was very cute. But they had also learned that they lived two hours from one another, so even if their boys bonded, they wouldn’t be able to see each other very often if ever again.

For now, though, Benni and his parents were still in town, so the Höwedes and Hummels families planned a little outing to take the boys on. They would help the boys with their silly little wedding then hit the town and perhaps go out for a meal and some ice cream. It was a nice little city with lots of trails to walk along and plenty for kids to enjoy.

But when Benni saw Mats’ family approaching in the lobby of the hotel, he became shy all of a sudden. So he hid behind his father’s legs and poked his fingers in his mouth.

The parents greeted each other and Mr. and Mrs. Höwedes said hi to Mats, but the Benni remained clung to his father all the while.

“Aren’t you excited to see Mats?” his mom asked.

The little one shook his head sharply. That hurt Mats’ feelings a little bit. He’d been looking forward to this all morning and now Benni didn’t even want to look at him.

Mrs. Höwedes crouched down so she could be closer to her son. “Benni, sweetheart, look at Mats. He’s happy to see you, but you’re not being a very nice friend right now.”

“What if Mats family doesn't like me mama?”

“Oh they will sweetie, I'm sure of that. But you have to be a big boy and say hi. Can you take your hand out of your mouth and do that for me and papa?”

Benni thought for a moment before nodding. He wanted to be a good friend, and to do so he would need to be brave.

Mrs. Höwedes gave her son a kiss before standing back up. Then Benni pulled his fingers out of his mouth and dried them on his t-shirt before peeking out from behind his again.

There was Mats, standing there with his parents and looking expectantly at Benni. Benni got scared and ducked behind his father again.

“Hi Benni,” Mats said.

Benni poked his head around once more. “Hi Mats.”

“Do you wanna go play now?”

Benni looked up at his parents for approval. They smiled at him, so he looked back at Mats, grimaced shyly, then uttered an “okay.”

\---

When they arrived in the Höwedes´ room Benni walked straight to his mama´s bag to retreat the makeup. 

It might have been a bit stupid of Mrs. Höwedes to pack her bag first thing in the morning when knowing that her son would need something out of it later on. And Benni of course did not care at all about keeping the neatly packed luggage like it is, he just dug right in and found what he was searching for at the bottom of the bag.

With a happy smile he showed the makeup bag to Mats and then poured the contents on his bed. That the white bedsheets might get dirty didn´t bother him, he would just put some candy on his pillow for the cleaning lady, like he had often seen his parents do with money.

Benni and Mats lay down on their tummy on either side of the bed and rummage through the pile of makeup together, wondering what different things might be used for.

“Oooh, I know what this is for!”, Benni says excitedly, holding up a bottle of nailpolish. “You put this on your lips.”

“Ehh, I think it´s for your nails Benni and not your lips.”

“Really? Oh, I thought my mama put this on her lips…”

Benni then grabbed the one item he was sure of where to put. Eyeshadow.

“What colour would look good on me?”, he asks holding up the brightest three he found.

“I don´t like the green or the blue one. But I think the purple one would look really great on you.”, Mats declared and then went to grab the eyeshadow he liked best himself, which was a beautiful golden one that was pretty neutral, but very reflective and shimmery.

“I want to wear this one and I want to wear eyeliner of course. Do you want to wear eyeliner too Benni?”

“Yes!”

Benni was getting really giddy and excited. He finally wanted to start. But Mats seemed to want to decide on all of the items they´d use beforehand.

“We need blush and lipstick too though… what colours would look best with gold and purple?” Mats made a thinking face.

“I want pink.”, Benni said.

Mats of course knew, that purple and pink would not look very good together, but he didn´t want to hurt Benni´s feelings and this was not about looking good for either of them anyways, it was about having fun. So he searched through the pile and found three different pink lipsticks, which left him a little perplex because he really could´t see a difference in any of them. So he just grabbed the one with the prettiest packaging and showed it to Benni, who was looking at him with bright eyes and from excitement tinted cheeks.

“This one?”

Benni nodded eagerly.

“I want you to wear red.”

“Why?”

“It would be such a pretty colour if we kissed!”, Benni exclaims.

Mats had to laugh at that. He then pecked Benni on the lips to show the other boy how much he actually liked him.

This made Benni giggle, but his face soon became serious again.

“I think we should start Mats. We wouldn´t want our wedding guests to have to wait to long, would we?”

“Of course not.”, Mats answered just as serious, although he was laughing at Benni´s cuteness on the inside.

\---

“Ouch!”

“I´m sorry... You need to keep still though Mats! Then I wouldn´t poke you.”

“I am keeping still. You just need to be more careful! I do want to keep my eye you know?!”

“Ehhh, you´re not keeping still!”

Benni had one hand stemmed into his hip and the other one holding the brush pointed accusingly at Mats.

“I am!!! You´re just too stupid for this! You´re such a baby!”, Mats shouted.

This made Benni cry.

“I´m not…”, he sobbed.

In that exact moment Benni and Mats´ mothers stepped into the room. They were both oblivious to what had happend and really perplex when they saw a furious looking Mats sitting on the bed and a sobbing Benni standing in the middle of the room with tears black from the eyeliner running down his cheeks.

“Benni baby…”, Mrs. Höwedes lifted her son up, which she only ever did in special situations because with five years of age Benni had gotten quite heavy for her, and pressed him to her chest.

“Shh, sweetie… it will all be okay.”

“Mats Julian Hummels, I want you to tell me what`s happend _right now_!”, Mrs. Hummels declared.

“Benni poked me in the eye with the brush.”, Mats said in a grumbly voice.

“And why is _he_ crying then?” 

“I might have been a bit rude…”, Mats was now making himself smaller.

When Mrs. Hummels noticed that her facial expression and voice became softer again. Sometimes with Mats acting all grown up she forgot that her son was actually still a little boy.

“Matsi can you say you´re sorry to Benni?”

Mats nodded.

“Sorry…”, he says looking at his feet all sadly.

Mrs. Höwedes lets her son down again, who looks up at Mats shyly, unsure if Mats was being honest. But Mats really was being honest and Benni could see that in his face.

He slowly started walking towards Mats and then wrapped his tiny arms around his waist, burying his head in Mats chest. Neither of them cared that Mats shirt was full of black eyeliner streaks now.

“I accept your apology. And I´m sorry too, I might have poked you a bit, but I have never done makeup before so I`m just not very good...”

“That´s okay.”, Mats smiled. He felt a little bad now for snapping at Benni and calling him a baby, seeing now how much it had really hurt him. He vowed to make it up to him when they got married. “You look really handsome in your makeup. Even though it smudged cause you were crying.”

“Thanks!” Benni chirped. “Yours looks...ehh, not very good because I messed up.”

“That's okay, it takes lots of practice,” Mats said, puffing his chest out because he was almost seven and therefore had much more life experience than Benni did, even if none of it was in doing makeup. “And I will help you do it.”

“Heehee.”

The mothers were watching their sons conversing. It was quite sweet how quickly young children always made up with each other after they got into a disagreement, almost like it never happened in the first place. And the way the boys were looking at each other like they’d never found a better friend in their life, powder and ink and sparkles smeared majestically all over their eyes and cheeks and lips, was adorable.

“Boys, why don’t we go out into the courtyard for the wedding now? We don’t want to lose our reservation at the restaurant,” Mrs. Höwedes suggested after a minute.

The boys’ faces lit up. “Yes! Yes! The wedding!” they cheered in unison.

\---

The wedding guests consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Hummels, Mr. and Mrs. Höwedes, a couple teenagers who were on their way to the pool, and a little old man who was convinced that by seeing two little boys wearing makeup get married to each other with no one telling them that what they were doing was wrong, the world was a far better place than it had been in when _he_ had been a little boy.

The teenagers stopped to watch the marriage, and the old man watched from where he was sat on the bench enjoying the sunshine.

“Mats, do you take this boy to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Mrs. Höwedes recited.

“I do,” said Mats.

“Do you promise to love and cherish him from this day forward?”

“I do,” said Mats, proud of himself for remembering how Benni’s aunt had responded yesterday.

Then it was Benni’s turn.

“Benni, do you take this boy to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“Yes!” Benni sang, bouncing up and down with excitement.

“Do you promise to love and cherish him from this day forward?”

“Pinky promise with a cherry on top,” said Benni. His cheeks were aching because of how big he was smiling.

Then Mrs. Hummels handed the ring they’d picked out at the store this morning to Mats. It was a beautiful silver ring with light blue gem, and Mats had insisted on spending his own allowance on it. It fit Benni’s small finger much better than the napkin ring had.

Mats tried to place it on Benni’s finger, but the blondie was trembling with joy so it was hard to put it on without missing. Eventually, he did get it on, and Benni reciprocated with the golden band he’d chosen for Mats.

“You may now kiss the groom,” said Mrs. Höwedes.

Benni stood up on his tippy toes so that Mats could kiss him.

All seven wedding guests then started to clap. The old man kept clapping a few seconds after everyone else had finished, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

\---

Both Mats and Benni were glowing when they went back inside. They couldn’t wait to go have their first meal together as newlyweds, but first they had to clean up. Benni’s mom approached him with a cloth that had some makeup remover on it and he immediately recoiled. He hated it whenever he had to stay still. He always ended up running away whenever he was supposed to have his face cleaned with a napkin, and his baths usually ended with more water outside than tub than inside because he splashed so much. Benni always thought this was very funny; his parents did not.

“Benedikt!” his mom scolded him as soon as he’d hopped onto the bed and buried his face in a pillow.

Benni laughed into the pillow; he really was just avoiding his mom because he was getting to that age where it was fun to be annoying.

“I’m gonna count down from three and then we’re not going to the restaurant with Mats. Three……… two………”

At this point, Benni scrambled up and presented his face obediently to his mom. He had no idea what would’ve happened at zero as his mom had never had to count that low before Benni finally followed directions, and he really didn’t want to find out what happened either. And as fun as it was to misbehave, he didn’t want to risk losing out on eating macaroni and cheese with Mats. Plus, he didn’t want Mats’ mom and dad to think that their new son-in-law never listened. So he let his mom clean the makeup off his face, then he put on a clean shirt with a little help from his dad to do the buttons, and they were ready to go.

\---

“Good afternoon. Have you got a reservation?”, the waiter asked in a monotone voice.

“Good afternoon. We have reserved a table for six persons, on the name Höwedes.”, Benni's father answered.

“Please wait a moment...”, he searched for something in a little booklet. “Okay. Follow me.”

He showed them to their table and told them that another waiter would be coming soon. All of them were very happy that that unmotivated guy wouldn't be their waiter.

A few minutes later, a young woman came to their table and introduced herself as Anja. The first thing she did was take a look at Benni, whose tiny figure was just slightly underwhelming in comparison to the table, his legs swinging happily back and forth and good distance from the ground, and ask if she could bring a booster seat over. Mr. and Mrs. Höwedes took Anja up on the offer, and she promised to bring the seat after she’d taken their drink orders.

The adults ordered some alcohol, and then it was Benni’s turn.

“Do you want something to drink, sweetheart? Apple juice? Milk?” Mrs. Höwedes asked her son.

“I want some apple juice,” Benni told her.

“Okay, can you be a big boy and ask the lady if she could please bring you some apple juice?”

Benni glued his eyes to the table. He normally didn’t order his own food and drinks, not because he was particularly shy but because his parents were so used to doing it for him since he was an only child and since he was still quite little. Today, however, was a special day that marked a transition between baby Benni and big boy Benni. He was married now. That meant he would have to start doing some things himself that his parents normally did.

So he mustered up all the courage he had and said in a small voice, without looking at the waitress, “can I please get some juice?”

“Of course,” Anja said with a smile, jotting down a note before turning to Mats. “And what about you, young man?”

Mats sat up as straight as he could, as if he were trying to show the waitress that she’d made the right call in not needing to offer _him_ a booster seat, too. “I would like a glass of water, please.”

As much as Mats would’ve loved to have apple juice too, his desire to appear mature and grown-up made him reconsider. He couldn’t be having an sugary baby drinks this afternoon. And he definitely wouldn’t be ordering mac and cheese off the children’s menu. No, he was going to have his dad help him read the menu and pick out a delicious entree with lots of grown-up foods, like leaves and vegetables and other things that grew out of the ground. That was the difference between kid food and grown-up food, Mats had concluded. Grown-up food was usually stuff that came from the dirt. Kid food was stuff that Mats had no idea where it came from, like applesauce. He’s seen apples before, but he wasn’t quite sure how they got it all mushed up like that (he’d tried it once, and it didn’t really work out).

“You sure you don’t want to color, bud?” Mr. Hummels asked with surprise when Mats had refused a kids’ menu, therefore refusing the crayons that usually came with it. “Remember how long and boring it is to wait for your food?”

“I’m sure,” Mats repeated, resisting the urge to squirm and wiggle and kick his legs around like Benni was doing.

Mats was bored alright. The hardest part, though, was having to watch his friend color and have fun, sipping occasionally on his juice through a straw, when he himself had nothing in front of him. Mats was getting restless, and the food hadn’t even arrived yet.

“Do you wanna color with me Mats? You can share my crayons,” Benni offered, holding out the yellow crayon.

Mats sighed. “Well. Okay.”

He took the crayon happily and then he leaned over Benni’s kids’ menu, concentrating hard on coloring inside the lines and not just randomly all over the page like the blondie was doing. They had to lean in very close together in order to both be close enough to the page, so their heads kept bumping against each other, but neither boy minded.

“The sun isn’t green Benni!” Mats exclaimed when he noticed his friend scribbling green all over the sun. Mats himself had been so busy focusing on coloring a blue line across the top of the page to represent the sky that he hadn’t even realized how badly the younger boy was messing it up.

“It’s just pretend. It doesn’t have to be real,” Benni said.

“But I want it to be real.”

“Then how come you’re making the sky like that? That’s not what the sky looks like.”

“The sky is up,” Mats said proudly.

Benni thought for a moment, then shrugged nonchalantly and exchanged the green crayon for the orange one. “Okay.”

Mats wanted to point out that the sun wasn’t _orange_ either; it was yellow. But then he remembered how Benni was only a baby who didn’t know any better, so he let it go. He was trying his best after all, and Mats would love him no matter what color he made the sun.

“Good job!” Mats praised the other boy. “It looks really pretty.”

The smile on Benni’s face was priceless. “Thank you!” But then his face fell as quickly as it had lit up upon inspecting Mats’ delicate work. “But yours is way prettier…”

“No it isn’t Benni. Mine isn’t prettier. It’s just different. People can color in different ways, but both ways can be beautiful.”

Benni appeared to be slightly reassured.

When Benni moved down to the grass and started coloring that orange too, Mats said nothing.

\---

When Anja brought the main courses, Mats took one look at Benni’s plate then one look at his own plate and felt a swell of disappointment. Benni’s meal consisted of chicken nuggets, french fries, and a small bowl of applesauce. Mats’ meal consisted of marinated potatoes with ham and a side salad. His dad had helped him pick it out, and he knew that he liked ham in his sandwiches, but this fancy kind of ham didn’t look particularly appetizing.

Still, he had to eat it and show that he was mature and knew how to use a fork and a knife - unlike Benni, who was already busy dunking his nugget in the pile of ketchup his mom had poured out of the glass bottle for him and shoveling it messily into his mouth. He had to set a good example for his younger friend.

Ten minutes later and Mats hadn’t really made a dent picking his way through his dish. It didn’t taste very good, but he was hungry. He couldn’t help it anymore. Seeing those salty, warm fries on Benni’s plate while Benni was too preoccupied covering his face and shirt in ketchup, he decided to make a go for it.

“Hey!” Benni screeched.

But he wasn’t fast enough. Mats had already swallowed the french fry and was rubbing his belly happily. “Yum!”

Poor Benni was frowning. He generally didn’t mind sharing, but he really loved french fries and wished Mats would’ve at least asked before taking one. And then before he knew it, Mats had taken three more, dunking them in the pile of ketchup before eating them.

“Stop!” Benni cried. He was up on his knees now, trying to shield his plate from Mats, who just laughed and reached around him. “Stop it!”

He was angry. It wasn’t fair that Mats was taking his food. Mats had a whole plate of his own food that he wasn’t even eating.

“Mats…” Mr. Hummels said warningly.

The boy looked over his shoulder to assess what kind of trouble he was in and if it was okay to keep on being bad or if he should stop. After determining that his dad wasn’t really _that_ mad at him yet, he returned his focus to Benni’s plate with a glint in his eye and swiped the last of the french fries onto his own plate.

“Give it back!” Benni howled.

“Mats Julian, you give your friend his french fries back right now and say ‘sorry.’. You know better than this,” Mrs. Hummels scolded, her voice steely enough to cause Mats to grudgingly do as he was told.

Scowling, Benni scooted away from the other boy and continued to eat while Mats’ parents reminded him that it was impolite to take people’s things without asking, especially if they told him repeatedly that they were not okay with it.

“If you want fries, then you have to ask the waiter for some yourself,” Mr. Hummels said.

Tears pricked at Mats’ eyes. He was determined not to cry, but it was getting extremely difficult now that he was both hungry and disappointed at the same time. “It’s not fair…”

“What isn’t fair?” his mom asked.

“Because Benni gets to do whatever he want because he’s still a baby!”

At this, Benni looked up with curious eyes, smacking his chops as he finished chewing.

“Do you want to ask the waiter for chicken and fries like Benni has the next time she comes? We can get a box for your ham and salad and take them home, or papa can finish it for you.”

“NO!” Mats shouted as he fell apart into a pool of tears streaming down his cheeks and landing on his shirt and on his plate. No matter how much it hurt, he refused to give in and admit that he’d been wrong in ordering off the adult menu.

“Honey, it’s okay if you don’t like your meal. I’m sure Anja would be happy to bring you something else,” Mrs. Hummels tried to console her son.

“It was very brave of you to try something new. Not many kids your age would even look twice at a salad,” Mr. Höwedes said.

But Mats’ tantrum was only getting worse, and several people were starting to glance over at them to find out what on earth was happening. Benni had stopped eating and was watching in alarm. And that’s when Mats did something bad. He knocked over his glass of water on purpose, sending liquid dripping onto the floor and ice skidding across the table.

“That’s it. Come with me right now, mister.” Mats’ mom got up and took him by the arm, pulling him outside the restaurant while he whimpered. Mr. Hummels followed close behind as he was a little too embarrassed by his son’s behavior to remain behind with only the Höwedes.

Benni looked down sadly at his lap. “Is he mad at me because I didn’t wanna give him my french fries?”

Mrs. Höwedes took a long look at her young son, who looked so utterly disappointed in himself that it broke her own heart. She reached over and stroked his hair.

“Oh no, Benni sweetie, Mats is not mad at you. He just didn't like his food and that made him grumpy, you didn't do anything wrong.”

“Are you sure? Do you think Mats will still like me? We’re married, what if he doesn't like me anymore? What if he wants to divorce?”, Benni said with horror in his voice. 

“I'm sure Benni baby. He still likes you and he definitely won't want to divorce. Mats is just a bit sad right now, so why don't you go to Anja and order another big plate of fries and nuggets that you can share with Mats. I bet that would make him very happy and you want to be a good husband right? So do you think you can do that for him sweetie?”

“Yes of course mama. I'll go find Anja right away!”

Benni jumped down from his chair and ran away to the bar, where Anja stood talking to another waitress.

He stood beside the two and pulled on Anja's blouse to get her attention.

“I'm sorry to interrupt, but could you please bring us another big plate of fries and nuggets, Anja?”, he said trying to sound like a grown up.

“Of course sweetie.”

“Thank you.”

When Benni came skipping back to the table his father stood up to help his son sit for again. Then he did what he rarely did anymore since his son started talking, he kissed him on the forehead.

“I'm proud of you son. You've handled that situation extraordinarily great.”

He knew that he was exaggerating a bit, but Benni had a hard day and he wanted to make him feel better. He was not as close to Benni as his wife, but he tried really hard to be a good father.

“Thank you papa.”, Benni smiled happily.

\---

Outside the restaurant, Mats was getting a talking to from both his parents. Mrs. Hummels had at first been a little shocked at her son’s behavior; she’d thought that Mats had outgrown temper tantrums and knew how to present himself in public. However, her mother’s instincts told her better. Mats was not just being a brat. He was genuinely upset, and it was her job to both comfort him and help him learn to express himself in a way that wasn’t so destructive.

She could already understand without even coaxing the words out of Mats what was going on. Mats was growing up, and quickly. It was confusing and scary for him. Life is not always as easy for children as we think it is. They are expected to act like children and are given very limited privileges, but at the same time they get in trouble more than someone who would know better. And they are consistently told to act their age, and then as soon as they learn to do so, it’s their birthday and they have to learn how to act a _new_ age all over again.

“Matsi, look at me.”

Mats looked up tearfully at his mother, folding his hands behind his back in shame.

“It’s okay to be upset,” Mrs. Hummels was saying, “but we have to use our words when we’re sad or angry. We can’t knock things over or take things from our friends without asking them. Do you understand?”

Mats nodded, sending several more tears sliding down his cheeks.

“When we go back inside, we can order you a new lunch. Would that make you feel better?” Mr. Hummels added.

“Yes,” Mats said quietly.

Then Mats’ parents both hugged him in turn, his mom rubbing his back and his dad ruffling his hair, after which they took him back inside. 

When they arrived back at the table, Mats turned away from Benni in shame. He felt embarrassed that something as unimportant food had made him throw a tantrum. He was the older one of them and he was supposed to behave like it. But he knew that today he was very mean to Benni and he behaved like a small bratty child.

“Matsi, look at me. It's okay that you stole fries from me. I still love you anyways and I just ordered another plate of fries and nuggets that we can eat together. I'll even feed you if you want me too.”, Benni said giggling.

Mats looked at him with big eyes. 

“Really? And you'll even put ketchup on the fries?”

“Yes of course!”

With perfect timing Anja arrived at their table, bringing them their fries and nuggets.

“Voila, your ordered meal. Enjoy, you two!”

“Thank you, Anja.”, they both said in unison.

“Make AAA Matsi.”, Benni pointed a frie with way too much ketchup at Mats mouth and because of a reflex opened his own mouth, like mommies do when feeding their baby. Luckily Mats didn't notice Bennie opening his mouth or he probably would've burst out laughing. No, Mats, like the good husband he was, opened his mouth and bit down on the frie. He had ketchup on his chin now, but he didn't care.

“Mmmh, yummy! Now you!”

They altered feeding each other till the plate was empty and their parents let them because they found it plain adorable and it was their last day together. Tomorrow they would have to separate again and this time for an unknown time span, so it was only fair they they should be allowed to do whatever they wanted until then, even if they knew better than to play with their food.

The lunch ended up taking quite some time (as most things do when small children are involved), so no one was full enough for ice cream by the time they got out of there. Both of the boys wanted cones, but they were given cups to place underneath the cones too to prevent any spilled-ice cream tragedies from happening; the meal meltdown had been more than plenty for everyone.

\---

Neither Mats nor Benni really understood what was going on when it was time to go. All they knew was that Benni was going back home to his own city, and that meant they couldn’t see each other tomorrow or maybe even the day after that. To them, that seemed like an eternity. Anything can seem like an eternity when you’ve only been alive for less than seven years.

So maybe it was better that they didn’t understand that it would probably be much, much longer than that.

The Höwedes family had already checked out of the hotel that morning, so all they had to do was pile into the car and be on their way.

Before Benni climbed in, he hissed in Mats’ ear, “hide in the car! Quick!”

So they shoved Mats into the car. He huddled down underneath Benni’s seat as best he could. And perhaps he would’ve gotten away with it for at least a couple seconds had he and Benni not been laughing hysterically about their little prank, blatantly giving it away.

So Mats’ dad pulled him back out, then Benni’s dad made sure he had his seat belt on properly, then they said their goodbyes and were off, Benni waving enthusiastically at the window until the Hummels were no longer in view.

An hour into the ride, Benni asked for his stuffed monkey. They pulled it out of the trunk at the next rest stop, then he tucked it under his chin and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave lots of comments and kudos again, we'd love to hear your opinion on this chapter (or the story in general of course:D)! <3


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mats and Benni twenty years later :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your lovely comments and for leaving kudos, it makes us so happy to hear from you all!
> 
> So this is the promised epilogue. It's short but sweet and I hope you all like it and are satisfied with the ending of the story! :) <3

“Flight number 16849 from New York has arrived.”

Benni felt relief flood him, that's the sentence he had waited to hear for the last hour. The plane should have arrived quite a while ago and he had started to worry. He stood up from his leather seat and walked towards the glass doors where all of the people from the plane would come out. And in between all of these people would be _his_ Matsi, who had been on a business trip the last week.

It was exactly twenty years ago this year that he and Mats met at aunt Annie's wedding for the first time. After that, they didn't meet again for fourteen very long years. Fourteen years where Benni felt like something was missing in his life, something really important, but he didn't know what. That is until he met this beautiful guy named Mats at the Oktoberfest six years ago and fell in love with him. 

He had missed his best friend, his love, his soulmate.

At first they both didn't know that they had already met when they were younger, but one time when Mats was in Benni's flat he saw a picture that was hanging on the wall in his own flat too. A picture of two little boys in suits, one blond, the other brunette. That's when they figured it out. 

He was twenty five now and Mats was twenty seven, they lived together in a nice loft in Munich and were incredibly happy.

Benni was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that the doors had opened until he heard someone call his name. His love was walking towards him with his small trolley in one hand and a bunch of red roses in the other. 

“Mats! How did you…? Oh my, you're really crazy... but I love you for it.”, Benni said laughing.

“Haha I know. It certainly was not easy to convince the stewardess to put them in water for me. But in the end she just couldn't resist my charm.”

“I can imagine.”

This had become their thing. At every possibility Mats gifted Benni with flowers. It was Mats way to show Benni how important he is to him. Like he did when they were children. After every time they were separated for more than a day, for every birthday, Valentine's Day, Christmas, when Benni's been sick or they had an argument, Mats always had a different bouquet of flowers. But that Mats went as far as bringing him flowers from the other side of the world was just plain crazy. And amazing at the same time.

“I love you so much, my beautiful husband.”

“And I love you.”, Mats said and he kissed the silver band on Benni's finger that was the promise of their forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments and kudos, we love to hear your opinion :)


End file.
